[...] Do you mind if I ask you what technical specialties you have? Thanks mate.
I'm one of the old dogs that hang out here. Engineer for 26 years and electronics tech for 10 years before that, in a dozen different industries doing product development. The only biomedical work was controlling artificial limbs for amputees and War Amps, and R&D with doctors on FES for paraplegics.
I keep trying to see if the project is feasible. No amount of good intentions can ensure project success. Why is everyone reinventing the wheel because there is a shortage of the usual wheel?
GM has almost 60 people alone just doing parts procurement for that Ventec ventilator
I can't see a community building anything that a hospital would let in their doors - the liability for something that is not to medical standards is just too much. I'm not sure when the possibility of death outweighs that.
In a magical unicorn world, you could walk in to Home Depot and pick up all the parts to make a ventilator. That would be an interesting experiment.
Number one is the air pump - what is to be used? Compressed air source, bellows, turbine fan. Are these parts off the shelf or from the Unicorn Supply Co. ?
The blower in CPAP machines is high performance. Two-stage turbine and high speed maybe 30k RPM brushless motor. I have pictures and a typical patent is
US20190334418A1, but I think a decent turbine that could be 3D printed and not fly to pieces would be impossible to make. Have to hack a Dyson although they are yet another company on the 'make a ventilator' bandwagon. They can't do it- the medical standards, safety requirements and liability are all foreign to Dyson. A vacuum cleaner that can kill. No nooby companies are going to step into this, despite the fame and glory.
There are many ventilator/cpap patents that briefly explain what a ventilator does.
US8051852B2